90 Drs. Kelaart and ^Mobius on the Natural History of 



the shells, pearls are very liable to drop out when the animal 

 reaches its full growth ; and Dr. Kelaart therefore recommends, 

 " as the best periods for fishing, the time when the animal has 

 closed its supposed two years' age, or when the shell measures 

 from 5^ to 6 inches in transverse diameter." 



The fishery in the Tamblegam Lake, as elsewhere, is carried on 

 by divers, and from Dr. Kelaart's statements great injury appears 

 to have been done to the banks, by the granting of a three-years' 

 lease to native renters, without any proper restriction as to the 

 size of the oysters to be fished. One bank, called the Natcha 

 Cooda, is already ruined, unless the Government takes steps to 

 restock it with young oysters ; and Dr. Kelaart considers that 

 " there is no prospect of even an average good fishery before the 

 middle of 1859." He says :— 



" I watched the number of oysters fished during the two days 

 I was lately at Tamblegam (Keenear), and have to report, that 

 there could not have been less than 30,000 on each day. ]\Iore 

 than two-thirds of this number were young, and had better have 

 been left in the lake for another year or more. The renter is 

 evidently making the most of the few months he has yet liberty 

 to fish, or rather ruin the hank. The Tamblegam \Yanniah, and 

 all the divers whom I questioned on the subject, stated, that in 

 the early part of the present year more than 50,000 oysters 

 were fished daily. It is therefore impossible to arrive at any 

 other conclusion, than that the former renters misrepresented 

 the state of their finances, from the Pearl-banks, when they got 

 Government to remit some portion of the rent, and had the fishery 

 re-sold for a smaller sum, to another native, — a relative, I am 

 informed, of one of the original renters. 



" All oysters are very prolific, and the Placuna is not an excep- 

 tion to the rule; for, at the lowest calculation, in three years 

 there must have been fished from this bank, upwards of 18 mil- 

 lions of oysters, supposing that there were only 200 fishing days 

 in each year. The renters' share must have been (allowing five 

 shillings for each thousand oj^sters) nearly £2250, from which, 

 deducting the three years' rent, \\z. <i€901, they must have de- 

 rived a profit of at least £1250. To this profit must be added 

 another source of gain (a very ingenious one), from the divers' 

 share of oysters. The diver is allowed half the quantity fished, 

 but he is not permitted to sell the oysters at the best market, or 

 to the highest bidder. He is obliged to open the oysters when 

 fresh, and sell to the renter all the pearls, at a fixed rate, which 

 the renter takes good care shall be below the market value. Any 

 plan, therefore, which may relieve the diver of this grievance, 

 will, I am sure, be thankfully welcomed by at least 200 indivi- 

 duals, whose chief means of living is by diving for Pearl Oysters." 



